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The principal academic work of Stefan Drechsler includes researching textual and codicological compilation strategies in Scandinavian law manuscripts, legal iconography in medieval European book painting, and social network analysis data. Furthermore, he has worked on personal networks related to the making and use of manuscripts produced throughout the Scandinavian Middle Ages. He is particularly interested in the literary and artistic exchange between western Scandinavian societies and other parts of Europe during the High Middle Ages.

In the past years, Stefan Drechsler has published a scientific monograph, articles in journals such as Gripla, Opuscula (Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana), Viking and Medieval Scandinavia, Das Mittelalter, Open Cultural Studies and Collegium Medievale, as well as book chapters in law culture-themed anthologies. In his publications, he has shown that interdisciplinary research into vernacular manuscripts from medieval Scandinavia can provide new and important information on the exchange of cultural goods, as well as secular and ecclesiastical networks in the North Atlantic region in the Middle Ages. His monograph examines not only one but several medieval cultures in relation to similar domestic artistic monuments and relevant historical evidence: Helgafell in Iceland, East Anglia in England and the broader area around Bergen in Norway. It offers a detailed account of one cultural site in relation to its scribal and artistic connections with other ecclesiastical and secular scriptoria. The book can be downloaded for free (Open Access Gold) at .

(2020-) Organiser of biannual public lecture series on medieval topics. Middelalderforum Lecture Series (; University of Bergen)

(2021-24) Co-curator for the exhibition "" at Bryggens Museum i Bergen. On 17 December 2024, the exhibition won the for the year's best exhibition in Norway.

(2025) Co-curator of the digital exhibition "" (University of Bergen). Available in Open Access.

(2026) (with Maruf A. Dhali) ‘AI and Pragmatic Literacy: Bilingual Scribes During the Reign of Håkon Magnusson of Norway (c. 1284-1319)’ (in English), Manuscript of the Month - manuscript.ku.dk / The Arnamagnæan Institute (15.4.2026). The article presents an AI-assisted digital palaeographic analysis of Old Norse and Latin charters, fragments and manuscripts written during the reign of the Norwegian regent Håkon Magnusson (c. 1284-1319). Available in .

(2025) ‘Three Scripts, One Scribe: Ingólfr Dagfinsson and his Lawbook AM 68 4to’ (in English), Manuscript of the Month - manuscript.ku.dk / The Arnamagnæan Institute (15.1.2025). The post mentions several medieval script types possibly written by one person - the royal scribe Ingólfr Dagfinnsson. Available in .

(2024) ‘Latin i gammelnorske rettshåndskrifter fra middelalderen’ (in Norwegian), Språkprat - Et populærvitenskapelig tidsskrift (6.12.2024). The text showcases a number of bilingual scribes in fourteenth-century Norway. Available in .

(2024) ‘Middelalderens landslove var alt andet end demokratiske’ (in Danish), Short interview with the NordForsk foundation on my current project. Available in .

(2024) ‘Hvorfor havnet dette i Bergen? Mitt valg: Fragmenter av Landsloven’ (in Norwegian), Film clip made by the University Library of Bergen's Special Collections. The film showcases two medieval fragments of the Norwegian Laws of the Land (Landsloven). Available on .

(2024) ‘Lovskaping i mellomalderen’ (in Nynorsk), Vestland fylkeskommune website on the 750-jubilee of the Norwegian Laws of the Land (Landsloven). The text discusses the Norwegian legislation prior to Landsloven. Available in .

(2024) ‘Eit første sted mot modern lovgivning’ (in Nynorsk), Vestland fylkeskommune website on the 750-jubilee of the Norwegian Laws of the Land (Landsloven). The text describes normative aspects of Landsloven. Available in .

(2021) ‘Apinn og konungurinn. Myndskreytingar í Belgsdalsbók’ (in Icelandic), Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum YouTube channel video (3:24 min.) on selected book painting in the medieval Icelandic law manuscript Belgsdalsbók (AM 347 fol.). Available in .

University of Bergen, Norway

2023 NOLI103 Den eldre litteraturen (BA Course; 2 lectures)

2023 NOFI101 Norrønt språk (BA Course)

2023 NOFI112 Norrøn litteratur i omsetning (BA Course)

2023 NORSK624 Nordisk litteratur: Teksthistorie og kulturutvikling (Utdanning; 2 lectures)

2022 NOLI103 Den eldre litteraturen (BA Course; 3 lectures)

2022 NORD100 Innføring i nordistikk (BA Course; 3 lectures)

2021 NOFI210 / NOFI250 / NOFI300/ NOFI302 / NOFI303 Norrøn litteratur i Håkon Håkonssons tid (BA/MA Course)

2021 NOLI103 Den eldre litteraturen (BA Course; 3 lectures)

2021 KUN209 Kunst, retorikk og lærdomstradisjoner i før- og tidlegmoderne tid (BA Course; 2 lectures)

2021 NOFI101 Norrønt språk (BA Course; 1/4 of the course)         

2021 NORSK624 Nordisk litteratur: Teksthistorie og kulturutvikling (Utdanning; 2 lectures)

2021 NOFI112 Norrøn litteratur i omsetning (BA Course)

2020 NOFI210 / NOFI250 / NOFI300/ NOFI302 / NOFI303 Kongesagaer (BA/MA Course)

2020 KUN209 Kunst, retorikk og lærdomstradisjoner i før- og tidlegmoderne tid (BA Course; 2 lectures)

University of Oslo, Norway

2022 NFI2120 / NFI4111 Old Norse Palaeography and Codicology (BA/MA Course)

University of Greifswald, Germany

2019 Die Königssagas (BA/MA Course)

2018 Einführung in das Altnordische (BA Course)

2018 Literatur und Kultur im Alten Island (BA Course)

University of Glasgow, United Kingdom

2018 Archival Research in the Arts and Humanities (Lecture & Workshop; SGSAH Summer School), University of Glasgow, United Kingdom

University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom

2017 Vikings! (Tutorial, BA Course)

University of Iceland, Iceland

2020 Book Painting in Medieval Icelandic Manuscripts: Styles, Iconography and Interdisciplinary Research (ERASMUS+ MA Course)

Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum, Iceland

2018 Illuminations and Art Historical Perspectives (Lecture), Illuminated Manuscripts (Workshop; 15th International Arnamagnæan Summer School in Manuscript Studies)

2016 Illuminated Manuscripts of Jónsbók (Lecture), Jónsbók manuscripts (Workshop; 13th International Arnamagnæan Summer School in Manuscript Studies)

2015 Manuscript Illumination (Lecture; 12th International Arnamagnæan Summer School in Manuscript Studies)

2013 Book Painting (Lecture), Manuscript Description (Workshop; 10th International Arnamagnæan Summer School in Manuscript Studies)

Book

(2021) Illuminated Manuscript Production in Medieval Iceland. Literary and Artistic Activities of the House of Canons Regular at Helgafell in the Fourteenth Century, Manuscripta Publications in Manuscript Research Series (Turnhout: Brepols). Open Access: ; Print: .

• Reviewed by Synnøve Midtbø Myking, in The Medieval Review, 14/03/2022; John Kennedy, in Parergon, 39/1, 2022, p. 234-236; Jeffrey F. Hamburger, in Medium Aevum, XCII.I, 2022, p. 143-144; Adam Oberlin, Mediaevistik, 35/1, 2022, 508-510; Sverrir Jakobsson, in Saga: Tímarit sögufélags, LX:1, 2022, p. 222-223; Visa Immonen, in Speculum, 98/4, 2023, p. 1234-1235; Patricia Pires Boulhosa, in Church History, 92/1, 2023, p. 177-178; Lasse Mårtensson, in Collegium Medievale, 36, 2023, p. 266-269; Irene Kupferschmied, European Journal for Scandinavian Studies, 55/1, 2025, 14-17.

Co-Edited Book

(2019) Djuve, Heidi Synnøve, Stefan Drechsler, Beñat Larrea Elortza & Deniz Cem Gülen (eds.), The North as Home: Proceedings from the Nordic Research Network 2017, Norvik Press Series C: Student Writings no. 4 (London: Norvik Press). Available here: .

Articles

(2026) "Advanced Use and Textual Change: Paratextual Commentaries in Medieval Norwegian and Icelandic Law Manuscripts", in Agostino Paravincini Bagliani & Francesco Santi (eds.), Micrologus: Natura, scienza e società medievali (Bologna: Sismel), 277-300. .

(2025) "Iconography in Icelandic Law Manuscripts in c. 1330-1600", in Margrét Eggertsdóttir & Gísli Sigurðsson (eds.), Gripla XXXVI (Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi),147-180. .

(2023) "Cultural Syncretism and Interpicturality: Throne Benches in Medieval Icelandic Book Painting", in Jørgen Bakke, Jens Eike Schnall, Rasmus T. Schlaattelid & Synne Ytre Arne (eds.), Writing the Image, Showing the Word: The Agency of Knowledge Production in Texts and Images, Open Cultural Studies, Special Issue 7/1 (Berlin: De Gruyter), 1-20. . 

(2022) "The Production and Use of Norwegian Law Manuscripts 1280-1400", in Matthew J. Driscoll (ed.), Opuscula XX (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Forlag), 193-273. .

(2021) "Law Manuscripts from Fifteenth Century Iceland", in Annette Lassen & Gísli Sigurðsson (eds.), Gripla XXXII (Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi), 165-98. .

(2020) "Marginalia in Medieval Western Scandinavian Law Manuscripts", in Roland Scheel & Silke Schwandt (eds.), Imaginationen und Praktiken des Rechts: Literatur- und geschitswissenschaftliche Perspektiven, Das Mittelalter: Perspektiven mediävistischer Forschung, Themenheft 1/2020 (Berlin: De Gruyter), 180-195. .

(2017) "Illuminated Manuscript Production in Western Iceland in the Thirteenth and Early Fourteenth Centuries", in Emily Lethbridge & Rósa Þórsteinsdóttir (eds.), Gripla XXVIII (Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi), 169–196. .

(2016) "The Illuminated Þjófabálkr in Fourteenth-Century Icelandic Jónsbók Manuscripts", in Russel Poole (ed.), Viking and Medieval Scandinavia 12 (Turnhout: Brepols), 1–40. .

(2016) "Ikonographie und Text-Bild-Beziehungen der GKS 1005 fol Flateyjarbók", in Britta Olrik Frederiksen (ed.), Opuscula XLVIII (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Forlag), 215–300. .

(2014) "Zur Ikonographie der AM 350 fol. Skarðsbók", in Espen Karlsen (ed.), Collegium Medievale 27 (Oslo: Novus Forlag), 63–113. .

Book Chapters

(2026) (forthcoming) "Nos Haquinus Signauimus: Kongsbókin, Hákon Magnússon, and the Royal Chancellery of Oslo", in Kirsi Salonen, Åslaug Ommundsen & Irene Baug (eds.), Crown, Church, and Convent: Essays on Medieval Cultural History in Norway (Turnhout: Brepols).

(2026) (forthcoming) "4. Textual Extension and Prolongued Use of Three Norwegian Law Manuscripts in the Long Fifteenth Century", in Anna Catharina Horn & Karl G. Johansson (eds.), Det lange 1400-tallet (Oslo: Novus forlag).

(2026) (forthcoming) "Images", in Hannah Ryley & James Dylan Sargan (eds.), Routledge Handbook to the History of the Book in Medieval Western Europe (London: Roudledge).

(2024) "Norwegian and Icelandic Manuscripts from the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries as European Works of Art", in Justin Kroesen, Kerstin Petermann & Anja Rasche (eds.), Bergen, the Hanse and Art. Cultural Connections Around the North Sea (Petersberg: Michael Imhoff Verlag), 174-195. .

(2024) "Codex Hardenbergianus (GKS 1154 fol.) - A Prachthandschrift from Medieval Norway", in Jóhanna Katrín Friðriksdóttir & Lukas Rösli (eds.), Old Norse Law Books from a Material Perspective (Oslo: Nasjonalbiblioteket), 112-158. .

(2021) "Chapter 6 Jón Halldórsson and Law Manuscripts of Western Iceland c. 1320–40", in Gunnar Harðarson & Karl G. Johansson (eds.), Dominican Resonances in Medieval Iceland: The Legacy of Bishop Jón Halldórsson of Skálholt, The Northern World 91 (Leiden: Brill), 125-150. .

(2021) "Appendix 4 Contents of AM 671 4°", in Gunnar Harðarson & Karl G. Johansson (eds.), Dominican Resonances in Medieval Iceland: The Legacy of Bishop Jón Halldórsson of Skálholt, The Northern World 91 (Leiden: Brill), 317-330. .

(2021) "Chapter 1 Production and Content of the Fourteenth-Century Norwegian Law Manuscript Lundarbók", in Thomas Gobbit (ed.), Law|Book|Culture in the Early and High Medieval West, Exploring Medieval Culture 7 (Leiden: Brill), 17–50. .

(2016) "Reynistaðakirkja hin forna. The Medieval Chapter Seal of the Benedictine Nunnery at Reynistaður", in Ian Giles et al. (eds.), Beyond Borealism. New Perspectives on the North (London: Norvik Press), 24–42. .

(2014) "Thieves and workshops: On a historical initial in AM 343 fol. Svalbarðsbók", in Guðvarður Már Gunnlaugsson & Margrét Eggertsdóttir (eds.), Saltari stilltur og sleginn Svanhildir Óskarsdóttur fimmtugri 13. mars 2014 (Reykjavík: Menningar- og minningarsjóður Mette Magnussen), 37–39. .

Book Reviews:

(2025) "Andras Mortensen, Kongsbókin og lógir føroyinga í hámiðøld", in Klaus Böldl, Karin Hoff & Henrik van der Liet (eds.), European Journal of Scandinavian Studies 55/1 (Berlin: De Gruyter), 5-7. .

(2022) "Katharina Preißler, Fromme Lieder - Heilige Bilder. Intermediale Perspektiven auf die skandinavische Ballade und die spätmittelalterliche Bildkunst Schwedens und Dänemarks", in Klaus Böldl, Karin Hoff & Henrik van der Liet (eds.), European Journal of Scandinavian Studies 2/2022 (Berlin: De Gruyter), 324-327. .

(2020) "Kate Heslop & Jürg Glauser (eds.), RE:writing. Medial perspectives on textual culture in the Icelandic Middle Ages", in Präsidium des Mediävistenverbandes (eds.), Das Mittelalter 2020/2 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020). .

(2016) "Stefka Georgieva Eriksen, Writing and Reading in Medieval Manuscript Culture. The Translation and Transmission of the Story of Elye in Old French and Old Norse Literary Contexts", in Alison Finlay (ed.), Saga-Book 40 (London: Viking Society for Northern Research), 121–123. .

(2016) "M. J. Driscoll & Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir (eds.), 66 Manuscripts from the Arnamagnæan Collection", in Alison Finlay (ed.), Saga-Book 40 (London: Viking Society for Northern Research), 119–121. .

(2014) "Lena Liepe, Studies in Fourteenth Century Icelandic Book Painting", in Espen Karlsen (ed.), Collegium Medievale 27 (Oslo: Novus Forlag), 201–204. .

(​​152607): "Nordic Law Books: The Production and Use of Vernacular Law Manuscripts in the North from 1100 to 1600 (NordicLaw)" (2023-2026)

: "Writing in Latin and in the Vernacular: Bilingual Scribal Practice in Norway ca. 1300–1350" (2025-2026)